Suicidal policeman shoots wife, kills daughter

NAIROBI, Kenya, Oct 29 – A police officer shot and killed his 23-year-old daughter in Kakamega and wounded his wife before killing himself on Monday morning.

The officer had just collected his AK 47 rifle from the armoury at 7.30am in readiness to go supervise the ongoing Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education (KCSE) examinations when he suddenly went back to his house and found his daughter in the kitchen preparing breakfast.

“As soon as he collected the rifle, he was supposed to go for official duty to guard the exams, but he instead went back to his house,” Charles Kinyua, the Kakamega police chief said.

Neighbours who include fellow police officers said they heard three gun shots—all in quick succession—from the house and immediately knew there was a problem.

“When the gun went quiet, they went to check and found the man’s daughter lying dead, while her mother was groaning in pain,” Kinyua said. “The man was also lying dead having shot himself in the head.”

An AK47 rifle which lay next to his body was retrieved.

“We have been told the family has been having issues, an investigation will be done to establish what led the officer to do this,” Kinyua said.

The daughter was shot just as she prepared breakfast while his mother was asleep.

Kinyua said the woman was being treated at the Kakamega Provincial General Hospital was she was said to be unconscious. Cases of officers killing themselves or their families have been on the increase here in Kenya.

Advertisement. Scroll to continue reading.

Recommendations of a task force formed by Police Commissioner Mathew Iteere two years ago to investigate the cause of the incidents have never been made public.

Independent psychologists have recommended counseling sessions for officers exposed to stress-related duties, particularly those who handle guns on a day to day basis.